17th September

Much improved conditions saw most of yesterday's migrants get away overnight but almost as many newcomers drop in. With it being relatively quiet both overhead and on the sea the day's legwork was mainly confined to getting amongst birds on the ground, where there were notable totals of 200 Wheatears, 50 Whitethroats and 40 Whinchats amongst a good spread at the Bill; less frequent migrants there included 3 Wrynecks (at least 1 of which looked to be a new individual) and singles of Hobby, Golden Plover, Woodlark and Firecrest, whilst elsewhere a Nightjar was a good autumn record at Barleycrates Lane. Very limited seawatching effort came up with singles of Balearic Shearwater and Arctic Skua through off the Bill.A single Red-veined Darter was a Culverwell.

Nick Hopper's most recent sound recording visits have been getting more fruitful now that we've reached mid-autumn, with calls logged on the night of 9th/10th September that included a flock of Bar-tailed Godwits, a party of Knot, 2 Green
Sandpipers, a Common Sandpiper, 5 Ringed Plover, 7 groups of Dunlin, a
Sandwich Tern, 8 Tree Pipits, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and 2 Grey
Herons:

This apparent sequence of wing-beats followed by two calls recorded the night before required a lot of investigation but looks likely to refer to a Short-eared Owl pitching in near the recorder:

...and, as we'd mentioned before, Nick has taken to leaving the recorder running on into the morning, with the latest reward being last week's Little Bunting passing overhead on the morning of 9th: